Slain former CPI-M leader's widow threatened with murder

K.K. Rema, widow of former CPI-M leader T.P. Chandrasekheran, said Saturday that she has received two letters threatening her with murder if she does not stay silent about her husband's killing.

The letters were received Friday. While one of the letters was sent from Aluva, the other was received from Kozhikode.

Speaking to reporters here Saturday, Rema said that she has received two letters and both threatened that if she did not keep quiet, she and her family would be killed.

"I suspect that those behind these letters are the very people who master-minded the killing of my husband. I have been asked not to speak against the accused, who are now in jail," Rema said.

Chandrasekheran, who was ousted in 2008 by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) after he became the proverbial thorn in the side of the party leadership in Kozhikode district, then founded a new party, the Revolutionary Marxist Party.

On May 4, 2012, as the 51-year-old Chandrasekheran was returning home near Onchiyam in Kozhikode district, he was hacked 51 times by a group of gangsters.

The case rattled the CPI-M and caused a huge dent in the image of the party.